


Tiny Terrors

by window_to_the_soul



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2017-12-30 02:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1012774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/window_to_the_soul/pseuds/window_to_the_soul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A crash in the Time Vortex has ... tiny ... consequences. It leaves an exhausted Doctor, a very feisty Rose and a curious Jack behind. Very AU.<br/>Repost from whofic.com</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Explosions

**Author's Note:**

> The Doctor finds a crying girl in the control room, Rose needs clothes and where the hell is Jack?

**1\. Explosions**

For a moment, the TARDIS's interior is engulfed in flames, then there is smoke. The Doctor's eyes water, and he distantly hears Rose screaming in fear and Jack's loud cursing. He doesn't have time to worry about that, though, because his time ship hurtles him around the console a few times, then he knocks his head on the central column and for a few seconds, he is just laying on the ground, not daring to move. Then, all of a sudden, the lights go out, the silent hum just about _stops_. Terrified for his companions and his ship, the Doctor leaps to his feet and calls,

"Rose? Jack?" Silence is greeting him. He knows they haven't landed anywhere, they're still floating around in the time vortex, but the TRADIS is too silent, her gentle lighting out and her constant humming sounds in the back of his mind mute. Where could his companions be?

"Jack? Rose!" he calls out again. Nothing, not the faintest of sounds reaches his -admittedly big- ears. The Doctor begins to worry. He doesn't know what's happened, and he doesn't like the idea of anything harming his two humans, either. In theory, there is nothing on the TARDIS that could hurt his companions, but he isn't even sure if they're still aboard. Listening closely, the Doctor makes his way to one of the TARDIS's corridoors. It is silent except for his footsteps which are ringing loudly in his ears. He hears his own breath and his twin heartbeats but nothing else. 

"What's happened, old girl?" he asks lowly, but of course there is no answer. He hadn't really expected one, to be perfectly honest. The Time Lord wraps his leather jacket closer around his body. He doesn't like the idea of being alone, not anymore. Not after Rose saving him from his own demons. He wishes he knew where she was. And the time agent, too, but they seem to have simply... vanished.

With a high pitched shrieking sound, the light in the TARDIS turns itself on again. The Doctor blinks a few times to stop the small spots dancing behind his closed eyelids and, rather relieved, listens to the low, soft purr of his ship. The interior of the control room is now once again glowing in dim golden light, the center console making its whooshing sound and moving up ad down, too. When he is sure that the TARDIS is okay, he peers down the corridor. Still no sign of his humans. Where in Rassilon's good name have they gone? Slowly shaking his head, the Doctor makes his way down to Rose's bedroom door. He's just about to knock on the dark wood when he notices something is off. Slowly tracing the carving on the door with his fingers, the distinctive form of a bud forms in his mind. _Wasn't that a rose_ blossom _last time I checked?_ , the Doctor wonders and thinks back to yesterday when he had wished Rose good night. Yes, there had definitely been a rose flower in full bloom on this door. Now it is a bud. 

Almost the same second the Time Lord realises this there is a high-pitched, wailing sound coming from the console room. It resembles something the Time Lord did not expect to hear on his TARDIS: a crying human. A child, maybe? Of course, how a child would get on a time ship that even Ghengis Khan's men failed to break into is beyond him, but there is certainly someone crying. It couldn't be Jack, from the sound of it, the voice is way too high, and it also can't be Rose because when she is crying, it's silent and it scares the living daylighs out of him. So the Doctor hurries back to the console room to see who could be making this much noise when he should be busy finding Rose. And, if it can be arranged, Jack, too. 

Nothing in time and space could have prepared the Time Lord for the sight in his control room. A little under the central column, almost completely hidden behind an especially big lever, there is a little girl -human, the Doctor notices- with short, brown hair, brown eyes and absolutely no clothes on. She must be about three years old and there are tears running down her blotted red cheeks. She is crying miserably. Slowly and carefully, the Doctor makes his way towards the toddler who doesn't notice him at all. She only has one tiny little hand pressed on her knee and whines pitifully.

"Hey there, um," he says, a little awkwardly, "are you hurt?" The girl looks up and seems so shocked that she forgets to cry.

"Docta?" she asks in a small voice.

"Hmm?" The Doctor makes a soft, humming sound that seems to calm her. He examines her closer and notices a sickening familiarity. The brown hair. The cinnamon eyes. The face, too, even if it has yet to loose all the baby fat. "Rose?" he asks. Shocked that the little child nods, he just stares at it.

"Doctaaaaaa!" The girl starts crying all over again, scrambling close to the confused Time Lord and hugs his knees. "My kneeeeeee!" For a few heartbeats, the only thing the Doctor can do is stare down at his companion who is, for some reason, a three-year-old. He doesn't understand, and in his mind, the only thing he can hear or think of is _Why? Why her? Why?_ When he bends down to remove her from his legs, she begins to shake.

"No! No!" she cries, "don't go way!" Blinking, he answers carefully,

"I'm not going anywhere. I just want to see your knee, Rose." Reluctantly, the kid lets go of his legs and looks up at him. Sighing, the Doctor takes a good look at Rose's knee. It's grazed and angry red, but not otherwise injured.

"There's nothing wrong with your knee, Rose," the Doctor says, frowning, "you just grazed it a little. No need to cry." The words don't seem to reach her, though, Rose just continues to wail. "Really, it's not like you'd broken it or something!"

The Doctor can tell that that's obviously not what you tell a little girl with a grazed knee, but honestly, what else is he supposed to do? Maybe it's worse than it looks? He rummages in the pockets of his leather jacket and finally finds his sonic screwdriver. Utterly fascinated, he notices that Rose's big doe eyes are glued to the device and its whirring sound. She has even stopped crying, thank Rassilon. When he's done he looks at the result. No, nothing, the girl's knee isn't hurt, just the topmost layer of skin broken. 

"Rose, it's okay. It can't hurt that badly," he tells her, wondering whether in her head, she thinks she's three years old, too. 

"No hurt?" she asks carefully, and the Doctor nods. His words obviously changed something profound because suddenly Rose is grinning with her tongue between her teeth and wipes away the tears in her eyes. "Than's!"

"Um," answers the Doctor and stands up, "you're welcome?" Rose nods and gets up, and the Doctor is reminded that she doesn't have any clothes on. He spins around so fast that he's dizzy for a moment. The Time Lord even closes his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he declares, "but can't you put some clothes on? I'm sure there's something in the wardrobe that fits a child of ah, your age." 

"Docta?" The curious sound of Rose's voice makes the Time Lord open his eyes only to see her standing besides him, tiny little hands covering her eyes. 

"What are you doing?" he wants to know, and the girl starts giggling.

"What'you doon?" Rose repeats, obviusly trying to imitate his voice. He scowls a little, but not for long. Rose's little-girl's-voice makes hm feel warm and protective inside, and somehow she is really really cute like this. Not that he'd ever admit that out loud.

"Rose, you need some clothes or you're going to freeze in here," he tries to explain again. Just _how_ was this supposed to work? Quickly he decided that it was the best thing really to get her into some... tiny pair of jeans or something before figuring out how to reverse this. Rose only giggles louder. With a deep sigh, the Doctor scoops the toddler up in his arms and takes her to the wardrobe. "Now, what dou you want to wear?" he asks.

"Funny!" Rose declares helpfully.

"I really wish Jack was here," mumbles the Doctor, "I'm sure he would know what to do with you..." His voice trails off. Suddenly, Rose turns her head, first to the left, then to the right.

"Taddy!" she exclaims happily, "Shack sofa!" The Doctor sighs again and begins his quest for children's clothing.


	2. No clothes?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor finds Jack, Rose doesn't like Time Lords and Jack wants a brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have some more fluff.

**No clothes?**

 

The Doctor sighs heavily. As it turns out, there is _absolutely nothing_ in his wardrobe that would fit a three-year-old human girl. Or at least nothing said girl likes. He found a robe for young Time Lords and wonders if it once had been his own, but when Rose sees it, she starts crying.

"Nooooo! Eeeeeeeeeh!" The Doctor puts it away very quickly, only so he doesn't have to hear the horrible sound coming off his little companion any more. _What's wrong with it?_ , the Time Lord wonders, _it's got a nice and high collar, a crimson cape and wide, silk embroidered trousers as well as a form fitting, grey top. What's not to like?_ But apparently, it insults young Rose's fashion sense or something because she doesn't stop whailing until he's putting it back where he found it. 

The next piece of clothing is for a young Slitheen (Just _where_ did _that_ come from?) and of course doesn't fit, and after three more attempts the Doctor simply gives up and tells the girl sitting on his hips,

"You know what? You just stay that way, stubborn little monster. See what good it does you if you freeze to death." Somehow, it doesn't bother the girl in the slightest. 

"Shack sofa," is in fact the only answer he gets. And just what is that supposed to mean? He doesn't have an old booth in his living room, he is fairly certain of that. Maybe Rose tries to tell him that she wants to have more wood in the living room?

"I won't redecorate my TARDIS for you, little princess," he tells her sternly, not noticing the term of endearment before it slips out. He vows to himself to never use it again. Rose looks expectantly at him. "I won't!" he repeats. The toddler is looking at him as if she thinks he's a bit thick. Maybe he is.

"Taddy Shack sofa!" Rose's voice is higher now, almost as if she is about to get _really_ angry. The Doctor makes a face and hastily tries to prevent Rose from crying again. He really can't stand the broken little sounds from the child.

"You know what?" he answers quickly, "we'll have a look at the living room and I'll show you just how magnificient it is, okay?" The Time Lord hurries back into the corridoor and makes his way to the living room with Rose still naked riding on his hip. He holds one hand securely wrapped around her little body -he still fears she might disappear on him again or he might drop her. The thought of his little human girl hurting makes his hearts constrict painfully.

oOo

As soon as he opens the door to the dimly lit room he knows that someone is in there. It's not so much the random pieces of paper on the carpeted floor -even though they help - but the scratching sound coming from behind the sofa. The Doctor slowly puts Rose to her feet and puts his index finger on his lips, hoping she'll understand it. The girl nods solemnly and sits down unceremoniously.

"Who is there?" the Doctor calls once he is sure that Rose is hidden behind a brown armchair. He hears a set of feet closing in, but they don't sound like the walker is in any hurry to reach his or her destination. Just when the Doctor is about to shout in frutration, a familiar voice says,

"Hello, Doctor. Good god, I'm _bored_! There isn't anything interesting in here, and I can't reach the door knob!" The Doctor jumps to his feet, so relieved that Jack is here that his odd choice of words at first doesn't register. Nor does the fact that it is slightly higher than usually.

"Jack! Listen, where are you, are you hurt? We've got a small problem." He looks about the room but can't see the Time Agent. "Just why are you hiding?"

"I'm not", Jack answers, and his voice is closer than the Doctor would have expected. He frowns and looks down. In front of him there is a young boy, aged around six, also completely naked. "I'm six years old. This size is perfectly normal." The Doctor is staring at him, gobsmacked.

"Jack?" he asks incredulously. The Time Agent looks up at him.

"Yes? Have you seen my pencils? I wanted to draw you a picture, but I can't find any. There are these strange things you use for signing stuff, but none of them is blue!" Jack's hands rest on his hips as he says this. _Pencils? With which I sign stuff?_ The Time Lord has no idea what Jack is talking about, so he asks the first question that comes to his mind.

"Who have you shagged this time?" The answer isn't really satisfying. Jack only frowns.

"What's "shagged"?" he wants to know. The Doctor blinks once, twice and then decides that it's really not worth his time.

"At least put some clothes on", he replies instead.

"No, really. What does "shagged" mean?" Jack inquires and the Doctor shakes his head.

"If you don't know, _I_ certainly won't explain it-" He means to say something else, but Rose chooses this exact instant to crawl around the armchair and grins widely at Jack.

"Shack!" she announces happily, "Shack sofa!" _Oh_ , the Doctor thinks, realization dawning, _she didn't mean "shack" but "Jack"!_ The boy is grinning broadly and swoops Rose up in his arms.

"Rosie! How are you! Wait, where are your clothes?" Jack asks, pushing a strand of his brown hair that is standing on end on his head out of his face. The Doctor can see the handsome man this boy is going to be in the child already; Jack's face is already pleasant and he has freckles that show ever so slightly. He looks a lot like those silly pictures of angels the humans draw all the time. Hw puts Rose down again, she is likely too heavy for him and he can't get her feet completely off the floor the way he's holding the girl.

"Time Word bad!" Rose answers and puts her head down on Jack's small shoulder. The boy looks up at the Doctor and wants to know,

"Why are Time Lords bad?" The Doctor shrugs.

"How am I supposed to know? She doesn't even speak in complete sentences!" Jack rolls his eyes.

"She is three years old, Doctor. Of course she doesn't!" The Doctor can only shake his head at that. He carefully removes his leather jacket and puts it on Jack's shoulders.

"Listen," he manages, "I'll figure out what's happened, and you put some clothes on. Maybe you can find some for Rose, too. And then we'll... Well, I'll think of something." He pauses, then asks,

"Jack, how did Rose know that you were here?" 

"She knew? I dunno, maybe she is psychic. And I want to draw a picture, not get dressed!" The young Time Agent is sulking. _Oh Rassilon_ , the Doctor thinks, _this is going to be a long, long day..._

"No Jack, Rose isn't psychic. And you should really get dressed first, it's not too cold for humans in here, but you'll catch a cold if you don't."

"But I don't want to!" Jack is pouting now, holding Rose in a loose hug and almost hiding in the Doctor's jacket with her. It fits around them both. Steel blue eyes fight warm brown ones.

"I have your jacket, isn't that enough? My TARDIS-picture is almost done!" Rose looks between the two of them and suddelny makes a huffing sound.

"Shack close. Doctaa bad," she lets them know. The Time Lord is frowning again and asks,

"Why in Rassilon's name am I bad?"

"Doctaa bad Time Word close," Rose explains helpfully. Jack is grinning.

"Really? You tried to put her in that Time Lord robe?" He then dissolves into roaring laughter. 

"Oi!" the Doctor complains indignantly, "Time Lords wore that all the time! There's nothing wrong with it!" Jack almost lets go of Rose he's laughing so hard now.

"Time Lords, maybe, but Rose is a little human girl! Don't you have something a little more... pink?" the boy queries.

" _Pink_?!" There is horror evident in the Doctor's voice.

"Pink!" Rose repeats and smiles broadly at him. She has dimples and her little white teeth are showing. It is the most adorable thing the Doctor has ever seen. He can't help but grin right back at her. "Shack close," the girl repeats and grabs a strand of Jack's hair.

"Fine, I'll find some clothes," the boy sighs. "Doctor, could you open the door for me, please? The handle is too high." Without thinking about it, the Doctor does as he's asked and lets the shrunken Time Agent out of the living room. As soon as the two have left, he collapses on the sofa. _Just what exactly could have happened?_ , he wonders. _There isn't anything poisonous on the TARDIS, and nothing alien as far as I know, either. So what changed Rose and Jack into a toddler and an elementary school student?_

oOo

Twenty minutes later, the Time Lord is rounding the console of his time ship in the control room and runs various tests on environment, time zone and vortex particles. So far, nothing seems out of the ordinary, but the Doctor isn't willing to let that discourage him. There has to be something! Anything! It's not like humans are known to just randomly jump back through their timeline and become children again...

Steps gain the Doctor's attention and he turns around in time to see Jack enter the console room, holding Rose's hand in one of his and a piece of paper in the other. The boy is now wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt, Rose is still naked. She has his jacket slung around her shoulders and seems contented, though, even though he arms are disappearing in the sleeves and the hemline is sliding along the floor behind her. Jack rounds the center column and starts to climb on the captain's chair, then starts complaining,

"Doctor, Rose is _horrible_! She doesn't leave me alone! And she drew pink circles all over my TARDIS!" The Doctor looks at Jack, then at the girl sitting on the floor next to the creme-coloured chair. She is looking all around the room, poking her little fingers at this or that and babbles excitedly. The man and boy talking about her are ignored.

"She... was drawing pink circles on your TARDIS?" the Doctor repeats, "how would she do that?" Jack huffs.

"She took a pink pen and put its tip on the paper, Doctor! How else?!" He waves the paper he is still holding around and the Doctor catches a glimpse of a deep blue box with a yellow knob on top, decorated with said pink circles. In his opinion, they resemble the gallifreyan word for "idiot". 

"Ah. Well, maybe you shouldn't let her near your papers, then." It is about the only thing the Doctor can think of that doesn't include telling 6-year-old Jack to shut the hell up.

"But then she _cries_! I don't wanna sister any more! Can I have a brother, please?" The silence that follows Jack's request is so deep that even the TARDIS doesn't dare breaking it. The only person unaffected is Rose, who is now happily trying to stand up, using the center column as leaning aid. When she has accomplished this, she is studying all the sparkly, shiny knobs and levers. Her eyes grow big and Rose raises her tiny little hand in order to pull one of them before the Doctor can stop her. The TARDIS makes a pained sound and starts moving, throwing the three occupants around. Jack screams in fear, the Doctor holds onto the grating and Rose just laughs. The time ship lands somewhere; there is a loud thumping sound and everything goes still again. 

"Never, ever do that again, Rose!" the Doctor shouts while pulling her away from the time rotor. He lifts the little girl up and lets her sit on his hip once again. She nods her head and the Doctor notices that her face is pale, her eyes huge and glued to his face.

"Rose bad?" she asks in a small voice.

"Yes, Rose very bad!" comes the angry voice of Jack from under the captain's chair. "I hit my head twice, Rosie!"

"Rose bad?" she repeats with quavering lips, gazing at the Doctor's face. Rose's expression somehow reminds the Doctor of a kicked puppy. He sighs heavily and answers,

"No, it's okay, little princess. Just don't do it again, okay?" Hastily, the girl nods and buries her head in the crook of the Doctor's neck.

"Rose sorry," she whispers. 

"Well," the Doctor answers, "that's the most important thing, that you're sorry. Now, let's see where we've landed..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what? Comments make me really, really happy. I'm not kidding!


	3. A parent's misery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor wonders, Jack wants to play and Rose has an imaginary friend. Or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus points for anyone who knows what "Taddy" means!

**A parent's misery**

The Doctor stares disbelievingly at the TARDIS's monitor. Seems like Rose has managed to land them on planet Detipan in the Axtrus galaxy, about 23,000 light years from earth and 100 years in their future. Obviously all the high and mighty Time Lords had been wrong and it doesn't take six Time Lords -or a genius one- to drive and land his TARDIS but only a three-year-old human girl. The Doctor doesn't like _that_ thought at all. He tries to remember what Detipan is like. Vaguely he recalls yellow grass and something to do with insects, but nothing in particular that strikes him as dangerous. So, a safe planet? _Would be the first time..._ , he thinks drily.

"Doc, can I go out 'n play?" asks Jack and crawls out from under the captain's chair. The Doctor, so used to Jack interlacing every single conversation with innuendo only snaps, "Leave the poor Detipani alone, Jack!" and earns himself a confused look by the six-year-old.

"Okay," Jack replies, frowning, "but I really like to play tag..."

"Tag!" Rose chimes in and grins at the two males looking down at her.

"Ah," says the Doctor and picks her up, making sure his leather jacket still covers her completely. It makes him feel uncomfortable that Rose is wearing nothing but his jacket, and he finds himself thinking about adult Rose wearing nothing but- he hastily shakes his head to banish these thoughts. He has more important problems right now. "Well, let me have a look first, Captain. It may well be dangerous, and you're in no state to defend yourself." Jack nods solemnly and follows the Doctor's way to the door with huge brown eyes. Rose, riding on the Time Lord's hips, is grinning like the Cheshire cat and makes strange sounds.

"Taddy fun! Docta out!" she declares and earns a confused look from the man.

"Exactly what are you trying to tell me, Rose?" the Doctor asks without hope of getting a reply that _makes sense_.

"Taddy fun. Docta out!" Rose repeats and the Time Lord sighs, opening the TARDIS's door to peek out. 

The three suns of Detipan are shining in a magenta sky, yellow grass swaying in a soft breeze smelling faintly of common snapdragon. It's neither particularly hot nor cold and the Doctor remembers that on Detipan, the weather changes to accommodate its recipients with a temperature they find agreeable. It's a bit psychic. The whole planet is, in fact. There is nothing to see for miles but hills covered in said yellow grass, and in the distance he can make out a small city. Rose pulls on the Doctor's short hair in order to gain his attention, and he finds himself forced to turn his head so that the toddler doesn't rip out a strand. Where did she get the strength to do that?

"Docta! Rose out!" He carefully extracts his hair from her grip and says, sternly, "No, Rose, you can't go out there!"

"Good luck with trying to stop her, Doc," comes Jacks voice from next to his hip. The boy is trying to get a look of their surroundings and the Doctor has to grab his hand to stop him from just running out of the time ship.

"Jack!" he admonishes, "you can't just run out without looking, either! There might be something dangerous!" Jack rolls his eyes at him and answers, "But there isn't! There's nothin' out there! It's boooring! Just grass. And it doesn't even have the right color." Jack folds his arms. "Stupid planet. Can we go somewhere with a sweet's shop?" The Doctor sighs and hopes he can find whatever has changed his companions to reverse it, quickly.

"No, Jack. We can, however, go somewhere with yellow grass. I'm not flying the TARDIS until I have a child's safety seat for Rose. Can't have her trying to fly my magnificent time ship again, can I?"

"What's "magnifshent"?" Jack wants to know. The Doctor blinks twice before answering, "Fantastic? Brilliant? Pick one, Captain." Jack is grinning up at him.

"You're cool!" he declares with so much admiration in his eyes and voice that the Time Lord can't help but feel warm inside.

"Cool! Taddy, too!" The Doctor scratches his earlobe at this. He knows by now that Rose is simply repeating statements she agrees to, but what in Rassilon's name is "Taddy"?

"Rose, what's "Taddy"?" he asks, preparing to decode the girl's answer.

"Taddy," she says, hopping a little on his arm folded around her tiny hip.

"Yes, Rose, Taddy. What is that?" he repeats. Rose scrunches up her nose and cranes her neck to gaze at the Time Lord.

"Taddy _Taddy_. Taddy cool!" she replies and the Doctor, not able to work out what she is trying to tell him, turns to Jack, "Do _you_ know what she's talking about?"

"No idea. Maybe she has an invisible friend? I had one when I was _younger_ ," the last word is spat out like it personally affronted the boy, "his name's Ianto."

"Is it?" the Doctor murmurs, thinking of the Time Agent's colleague with Torchwood. _Do children even have imaginary friends at the age of three?_ he wonders briefly, but decides he's got more serious problems right now. Like finding clothes for Rose.

"Okay," he begins, "Jack, you do. Not. Wander. Off, understand? Come on; let's see if we can find our little princess something to wear. Can't have her running 'round naked, can we?" Jack nods and grabs the Time Lord's hand with his smaller one to hold on tight. He leads the boy out of his time ship and starts walking towards the small city. However, after a few meters, Jack falls back and starts complaining, "My feet hurt! You walk too fast! Can we make a break?" At first, the Time Lord ignores Jack's whining, but then Rose begins to cry.

"Shack, stoooooooop!" she wails, "Auuuuuuu!" The Doctor inhales sharply and puts the girl down next to the Time Agent.

"Now listen, you two!" he exclaims rather angrily, "it's not my fault that your feet hurt, Jack, so stop crying like a little baby. You can't even walk a few miles! And Rose, stop crying! It's annoying!" The two children grow very silent, both looking wide-eyed at him.

"Rose sorry," Rose whispers, cinnamon eyes brimming with tears.

"I only want to sit down a mo'," Jack adds and avoids the Time Lord's gaze. "I'm sorry." The Doctor runs both hands through his short dark hair and looks at the two of them. What did he do wrong this time? Rose looks like she is about to burst into tears _again_ -why is she crying all the time? - and Jack could just as well have been slapped in the face for his puppy eyes are downcast and he looks beaten.

"No, I'm sorry," the alien finally apologizes. "You did nothing wrong, Rose -I guess- and Jack, sit down for a minute, okay?" Relieved the boy slumps down and stretches his legs while Rose is scrambling towards him, pulling herself upright with the help of his jeans.

"Rose not bad?" she asks, and the Doctor hastily reassures her that no, Rose is certainly _not_ bad.

oOo

"Good evening, Sir, you're up early," says a Detipani and nods at the Doctor and his shrunken companions. He looks human enough, the Time Lord thinks, his skin is light blue and he is bipedal, but has two ivory horns protruding from his forehead. The sunset makes his skin-color seem almost purple.

"Hello," he returns the greeting, "can you tell me where we are?" The Detipani tilts his head and wants to know, "How come you don't know? Are you new?" The Doctor nods and gestures towards Jack and Rose.

"My...," he begins and then stops. How should he explain his companion's state? And what should he call them? Giving up, he answers instead, "yeah, we're not from around here. We're... travelling a lot."

"Twaffelin'!" Rose repeats and the Doctor notices that he's smiling fondly at her. Shaking his head for the millionth time today he continues, "Is there maybe some sort of... shop where I can buy new clothes for ... Rose?" The Detipani leans forward to look at Rose who frowns and then reaches to grab one of his horns.

"Taddy hello! Horn biiiig-good!" The Detipnai actually blushes at Rose's words, replying, "Why thank you, little darling!" He then turns to the Doctor who wonders what he has missed.

"Your daughter is really cute!"

"Err, my what?" the Doctor asks, shocked. The Detipani tilts his head, carefully extracting his horn from Rose's hand. She had made some sort of compliment, that much the Doctor could understand, but what exactly? "My, your horns are really big"?

"Is she not your offspring?"

"'Course she is! Daddy, can I have some sweets, please?" Jack interrupts by pulling on his jumper's sleeve before the Doctor has a chance to think of an answer.

"Oh, and your son is cheeky, eh? This is the town of Mercia, about three hundred miles from Detipan's capital Mercii." 

"Ah," says the Doctor, not sure whether he likes the fact that Jack has just called him "Daddy" or not. It sounds too much like a weird chat-up line, something adult-Jack might have used. He doesn't have time to dwell on the past, though, because the blue-skinned alien continues, "There is a shop that sells children's clothing just ahead, run by Mrs. Yacooma. She may have something nice and pink for your girl, and she's already opened."

"Thank you," the Time Lord croaks, pulling Jack through the big wooden gate interrupting the wall surrounding the city. After the break they had walked a bit slower and made it to the accumulation of buildings just before sunset. The houses of the city are made of some sort of dark green stone the Doctor doesn't recognize and have flat roofs, the outer walls often decorated with murals showing hunting scenes. In spite of the late hour the concreted streets are crowded as most of Detipan's population is nocturnal. The Doctor remembers it has something to do with the rays of the third and biggest sun that hurt the inhabitant’s eyes. The Detipani travel by wooden coaches, pulled by huge black or white horses whose hooves resemble lion's paws more than anything but are made of beak. There are pavements, too, crowded with the aliens on their way to fulfilling their daily tasks. 

Jack is holding the Doctor's calloused hand, gazing shyly at the horses and examining the Detipani with curiosity. Rose, holding onto the Time Lord's other hand takes wobbly steps, eyes as big as saucers.

"Many! Taddy Fwishles," she informs the Time Lord.

"Doc, what are "fwishles"?" Jack wants to know, but the Doctor can only shrug.

"I have no idea, Jack. I guess it's "frishles", though. Maybe it's just something that makes sense to little children," he muses.

"Or maybe Rose is thick," Jack interjects, earning himself a dark look from the Time Lord.

"She is not "thick", Captain."

"Fine, sorry!" Jack answers with an exasperated huff.

"Rose not sick!" The little girl smiles at this and the Doctor pats her head.

"No, you're not thick, little princess." The term of endearment by now slips out witout the Doctor even realising he's using it again. It just seems to _fit_.

Finally, the three find the shop mentioned by the guard. It is crammed in between some sort of pub called "The Nasty Butterfly" and a post office. The sign above the small grey door reads "Mrs. Yacooma's Children" in gently curved letters; the windows are filled with small jeans, tops and shoes. Jack is grinning broadly and points to a long, black woolen coat.

"Can I have that?" he asks and jumps up and down excitedly. It looks a lot like the coat the grown-up Time Agent is always wearing, so the Doctor thinks, _What harm could it do?_ and opens the door. The doorbell rings softly and a young Detipani makes her way towards them. She is wearing a pink blouse and purple jeans with butterfly patches on the knees, her long black hair tied back in a ponytail. She is smiling broadly, showing two rows of sharp, blindingly white teeth. 

"Hello, what can I do for you?"


	4. Dressing Rose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor is exhausted, Jack gets his coat and Rose gets jim-jams.
> 
> This was going to be a little scary, but Jack and Rose disagreed with me. Now it's a fluff-attack...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd love for someone to draw me little Rose in her jimjams. Pretty please?

**Dressing Rose**

 

"Hello. Mrs. Yacooma, I assume?" the Doctor asks, eyeing the female Detipani suspiciously. Something about her is different, he can tell.

"Well observed. And you are...?"

"Oh. Um, I'm the Doctor, and those are Jack and Rose," he answers, pointing at the boy trying to reach the coat and the girl in his arms. Mrs. Yacooma smiles at Jack who is now scowling at the coat hanging too high for him to be able to reach it.

"I wanna have that coat!" he huffs and turns to look at the Doctor.

"Jack, behave," the man answers and repositions Rose's weight on his hips, "I said you'd get it, but Rose needs clothing first."

"It's always Rose first!" Jack complains, hands on his hips, "you like her better!"

"No." His voice sounds a little exasperated, "but _Rose_ is, contrary to you, wearing nothing but an oversized leather jacket! And I want to have it back!" The Doctor looks around in the shop. It's considerably bigger than it seems to be from the outside, though not because it has another dimension in it but because it reaches farther back than you'd expect. The walls are wainscoted in dark wood but painted in bright colors. There are motives of children's series and books such as _Three little Daleks; Please save my earth_ and so on. Amongst all the mother Detipanis and their children he feels a little out of place with his jumper and boots.

Mrs. Yacooma follows the conversation with mild interest, and then says, "I think I have just the thing for your lovely offspring. Come on, Rose." She carefully takes the girl out of the Doctor's arms who is only reluctantly letting her go. Rose is staring at the woman as if she is trying to solve a complicated puzzle. _Or maybe wondering how her fingers taste,_ the Doctor adds, seeing as her digit is stuck in her mouth and she is suckling on it.

"Wose Taddy weed." Her words are slightly muffled by her finger. Naturally, the Doctor has no idea what weed has to do with anything, so he ignores his companion's statement and turns his attention to the pouting elementary-school Time Agent.

"Jack, I really don't like Rose better. I..." he tries to work up the courage to actually say those words, "I love you just as much." There, he'd said it. Jack's beaming smile is worth the uncomfortable feeling that the adult version of him is never going to let him live that one down -if he remembers it. 

"That mean you get me the coat?" Sighing, the Doctor reaches up and carefully takes the coat out of the shop-window and off the coat-hanger to hand it over to the still smiling boy. Jack takes it and wraps himself up in it without waiting one single second. It fits him perfectly.

"Now what do you say?" the Doctor asks.

"Thank you, Do- Daddy," Jack answers and with a shock the Time Lord realizes that he sounded just like that -a father. He's not so sure he wants to be. Shaking his head, he takes his shrunken companion -and he has to remind himself that this is _still_ I-flirt-with-anything-sentient-Jack Harkness whom he used to be overly jealous of for sharing those jokes with Rose. Grinning, he realizes that this might well be the chance for a little payback once he is back to normal. 

He makes his way to the back of the store to where Rose is standing with wide eyes, marveling at a pink dress with a train and a white bow tied at the back.

"Sis! Please!" Rose pleads, turning around to look at the Doctor with puppy eyes. Mrs. Yacooma and several other women are looking down at her. The Doctor examines the dress. It doesn't look like Rose would be able to walk in it, let alone run. Highly impractical, but the little girl is gazing at his eyes with such a hopeful expression that the Time Lord finds he can't deny her the wish. Sighing, he tells her okay and can't stop the manic grin splitting his face at Rose's happy little squeak.

"Will you be needing a few jumpers and jeans as well? What about underwear?" asks Mrs. Yacooma who is currently taking the dress off the clothes hanger and packs it in a plastic bag. "Give me the coat, too, please," she asks Jack who reluctantly hands his new favorite piece of clothing to the smiling lady.

"Underwear?!" the Doctor repeats. Is he really supposed to buy his companion's knickers? His hearts pound; nervously he looks around to see if any of the women are scandalized. Strangely, none of them seems to mind that a _male_ is being told to buy a young girl's _underwear_. In contrary, they smile at him and he can hear one Detipani wearing a green dress telling another "Isn't that sweet? I wish _my_ husband would care for his children like that! But no, it's always me who buys their clothes!" Her dialogue partner nods and adds, "I think the Detipan would stop spinning if I ever saw my man in a kid's shop!" The Doctor was confused as all hell. Since when...? _Oh, whatever,_ he thinks and nods at Mrs. Yacooma. There are no toddler's clothes on the TARDIS, so he has to buy some. Fortunately he'll be prepared if anything like this ever happens again in the future (and Rassilon he hopes it'll _never_ happen again, no matter how adorable Rose looks this tiny in his leather jacket!).

"What's her size?" she asks and the Doctor thinks his eyes might just fall out of his skull. Did the woman just ask what he thinks she's asking? 

"Gah," he replies. Mrs. Yacooma frowns at him, then wants to know, "Is this the first time you buy things for your kids?" Relieved, the Doctor nods.

"Mummy wents to another planet t'day, 'n Daddy has to buy Rose clothes!" Jack adds helpfully. Both adults smile down at him for a moment, then the blue-skinned lady picks Rose up from the floor, ignoring her protests and eyeing her carefully.

"How old is she?" 

"Three years," the Doctor answers, now glad that he knows at least _something_ in this weird situation. The knowing grin in Jack's eyes makes him uncomfortable, as does the fact that he just called him Daddy _again_. Rubbing his hand over his neck he follows Mrs. Yacooma to the far end of the shop. On hallstands there are all kinds of tiny little knickers, from blue to white to pink to green and pairs of socks next to them. The Time Lord can also see hat stands with children's jeans and jumpers, neatly folded and ordered by sizes. 

The alien takes another look at Rose.

"What color would you like, darling?" she wants to know and Rose answers, "Pink!" So Mrs. Yacooma walks through the seemingly endless rows of clothing and picks jumpers, t-shirts, tops and jeans and hands them to the Doctor, along with socks and underwear. He has about three tons of tops in his arms when the woman announces, "That's quite enough, sir. You should go to the changing room to see if that all fits, okay?" Ignoring the Time Lord's panicked look she pushes him to a small room separated from the rest of the shop by a green curtain. She shoves the Doctor and Rose in it and tells him she'll wait outside.

"Can't you do that by yourself?" the Doctor hisses. Rose tilts her head and then pokes at the mirror at the back of the changing room, obviously fascinated that there is another girl in this tiny place. "Rose!"

"Docta!" she squeals happily, oblivious to the Time Lord's predicament.

"Fine!" he huffs, removes the leather jacket from her and sorts through the pile of clothing he has put on a chair. When he finds a pair of white knickers he hands them to her and says, "Put those on." Turning around, he waits about half a minute before losing his patience and turns around. Rose is sitting on the floor, white cotton on her head and grinning up at him.

"Fun!" she declares to the Doctor's astonishment. The Time Lord really doesn't know any appropriate reaction to _that_... Shaking his head, he removes the knickers from her head and pulls her on her feet.

"Lift your leg," he orders; then helps the girl to step in the little holes for Rose's legs. Pulling the garment up, carefully avoiding to look anywhere below Rose's face, he sighs contentedly. At least her modesty is covered now... That only leaves the jeans and jumpers.

Choosing a pink jumper without looking at the motive he says, "Arms up," and lifts it over her head. Rose panics as soon as her vision is impaired and starts screaming. Shocked, the Doctor rips the piece of clothing off her and stares at her wide, scared eyes.

"What's wrong?" he wonders softly and lifts the girl up in his arms, noticing she is sobbing silently.

"Daak. Docta way!" Rose hiccoughs. _Rose is scared of the darkness?_ the Time Lord thinks surprised. 

"Everything okay?" comes Mrs. Yacooma’s voice from outside the changing room.

"I think Rose is scared of the dark," the Doctor replies, wondering how he is going to get the jumper over the girl's head, then.

"May I come in?" The Doctor agrees and the alien pulls the curtain aside, looking down at the kneeling Time Lord with the sobbing girl in his arms. "You scared of the darkness?" she softly asks Rose. The girl buries her face in the Doctor's jumper and mumbles, "Docta way..." Mrs. Yacooma turns to her guardian.

"I think it's not so much the darkness that scares her," she begins, earning a puzzled look from the Time Lord, "but the fact that she doesn't see _you_ anymore." Jack chooses this second to burst into the now cramped room.

"Rosie? Y'all right?" Rose nods in the Doctor's top. He notices the wet spot on it from her tears but couldn't care less.

"What do I do? She has to put on something!" the Doctor asks. Smiling, Mrs. Yacooma turns her attention to the sniffling girl.

"Listen, Rose. The Doctor, your Daddy, isn't going away. He stays right here and holds your hand, okay? He won't let go, alright?" With the Doctor holding Rose's hand, the child sure enough accepts the darkness, even though he can still feel her fingers tense around his and only loosen their grip when her head is safely through the collar.

"Well done," the Doctor praises softly, earning a pleased smile from Rose whose hair is slightly ruffled. _She looks absolutely adorable,_ he thinks.

Half an hour later the Doctor leaves the shop with a newly dressed Rose -pink jumper with a Raxacoricofallapatorian on it, no idea why she chose that and a pair of nice light blue jeans and Jack proudly presenting his new coat to anybody who is looking. He has never in all his lives been so exhausted.

oOo

They make it back to the TARDIS just before sunrise. As soon as they have entered the console room, Rose starts crying. 

"What's wrong _now_?" the Time Lord sighs, exhausted both from carrying three bags full of clothes and a wriggling child in his arms. Fortunately, Jack has decided to behave. Rose's face is screwed up, tears streaming down her cheeks and onto his leather jacket. The TARDIS hums softly at the Time Lord, but he only waves at her ceiling.

"Not helping, old girl! I need to think!" His time ship ignores him and continues to purr an odd rhythm. It sounds vaguely familiar, but he doesn't know where he's heard it before. Jack worriedly pokes at Rose's back which only makes her crying worse.

"Please stop that, Jack," the Doctor snaps angered.  
"You too!" The soft sounds from the TARDIS increase again, and all of a sudden, Rose begins to calm down. She grabs the Doctor's jacket in one of her tiny fists and rests her head on his shoulder. Frowning, the Doctor pays more attention to the tune. _Hm-hm-hmmm-hm hm-hm... hm-hm hm-hm, hm- oh! It's a lullaby!_ he realizes after humming the melody himself. _Of course, Rose must be sleepy! We've been awake for, what, twelve hours?_ Smiling he turns his head just in time to see a huge yawn split Rose's face. Her eyelids are heavy, she almost can't keep her cinnamon eyes open.

"Eepy," she tells him, and the Doctor nods.

"Let's get you to bed, eh?" He puts the girl down on the captain's chair and searches his bags for a pair of pyjamas. They turn out to be dark blue with a wolf pup howling to the moon on the top. It doesn't take long to change Rose's clothes now that he knows how to. The Time Lord carries the girl to her room, telling Jack to "go and find something to play with".

However, just as he wants to put her down, Rose starts crying again. It sounds miserable, so he lifts her in his arms again.

"Hey, little princess, everything's okay. Just you sleep," he whispers in her ear, and promptly the child calms. He tries to put her down again, but as soon as his arms leave her body, tears well up in her eyes. Sighing, he sits down next to her.

"I'll stay here, okay?" he asks, and Rose nods. Lying down, the Doctor tries to find a comfortable position on Rose's bed. After about twenty seconds, he feels a weight climbing on top of him. Opening his eyes, the Doctor sees Rose's small body resting on his chest, fist curled around the border of his jacket. Her hair tickles his chin, so he gently strikes it out of her face and tucks it behind her ear. From this angle he can just make out the words above the picture of the wolf on her top. It says "Bad Puppy".


	5. At the restaurant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor is clueless, Jack does some sport and Rose is having an interesting conversation.
> 
> Now with titles and extra points if someone knows what "Taddy" is! If you want to see our trio in any specific situation, feel free to tell me.  
> 

**At the restaurant**

_This is_ so _not how I imagined the first night in Rose's bed...,_ the Doctor thinks, groaning softly as he opens his eyes. His back is stiff and aching and he's got dried drool on his jumper. Bugger. Not that he has thought about being in Rose's bed... at least, not very often. Under the shower, alone in the evening... And he couldn't even leave her bed now, or he'd wake her. And really, her face is so peaceful with the closed eyes fluttering behind their lids while she is dreaming, a little smile tugging at her lips. _Must be a happy dream,_ he thinks, smiling himself a little. His time ship hums gently, the presence of her calming his still confused mind. How long had he been asleep? This really doesn't happen often, him losing track of time, but here he is, last of the high and mighty Time Lords, in bed with a toddler. He is pretty sure he knows what his professors at the Academy would have said of that. He could practically see their scowling faces... But then, those professors never saw the face of a sleeping human child, so he couldn't blame them, not really. He knows he would do nothing to disturb her now.

Unfortunately, Jack has no such inhibitions. He bursts into the room, beaming like he had just found the mistake in Einstein's theory of relativity and proclaims, "I'm hungry! Can we go 'n eat something?" Rose promptly screws up her face and turns away from the source of noise and frankly, the Doctor agrees with her.

"Jack," he hisses, "don't you see that Rose is asleep?"

"Not anymore!" Jack shouts as if to prove a point, and Rose buries her face in the Doctor's jumper, making a pleading little noise in the back of her throat.

"Jack! Shut up!" the Doctor tries again. The boy moves to stand straight and walks over to the Time Lord on the bed.

"No! I wanna eat! Now! Rosie can sleep later!" he basically cries in the Doctor's ears. Wincing, the Doctor turns his head away from the child's incredibly loud voice. 

"Shack! Mean!" Rose moans and raises her head to look at him, "Rose eepy!" Sighing, the Time Lord sits up, carefully readjusting the girl's position so she is sitting on his lap now.

"C'mon, Rose, let's get up," he says gently, ignoring the girl's protest. "We have got to get Jack something to eat, or we won't sleep again all night."

"Thanks, Doc!" Jack beams; "No! Eepy!" Rose declares at the same instant. Rubbing his forehead, the Doctor gets up, hoping to relieve some of the tension in his back. Unfortunately, Rose's form prevents him from stretching, so he has to settle for an uncomfortable half-shrug that makes everything worse. 

"Both of you, be quiet for _one second_ , yeah?" he asks the two children who are busily shouting at one another and is, of course, completely ignored.

"Shack eev-ill! Rose eepy, Docta too!"

"But I wanna have chips! Or whatever they have on this stupid, boring planet!"

"Rose eep!"

"I'm hungry! And you're just a stupid little baby, so you can't tell me what to do!

"Shack up! Shack mean! Taddy help!" The last sentence earns her a confused glance from the Time Lord who feels a massive headache forming behind his temples. _Just what is that "Taddy"-thing she keeps talking about?_

"I wanna have _food_!"

"Wanna eep!"

"Shut up! Both of you!" the Doctor exploded. "I get a headache from your yelling at each other, my back feels really stiff and just _why_ do you need food _now_ , Jack? Couldn't have waited five more minutes, could you? Stupid apes..." Grumbling, he moves to the wardrobe and takes another t-shirt and jeans out for Rose. The sudden silence in her room is soothing and he almost feels at ease.

It lasts for almost twenty seconds before Rose starts to cry and Jack screams angrily.

"I did wait! 'Least twenty-thousand minutes!"

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" _Maybe I should just smash my head against the wall until I regenerate, repeat as necessary until I die._ The thought sounds very appealing right now...

"Please," he is pleading now, "please be quiet..." Surprisingly, that gets the attention of the two kids. Rose stops crying to look up at him with huge eyes and Jack blinks slowly.

"Sorry," he says, and Rose adds, "No hurt Doctaa?" The Time Lord sighs deeply.

"Okay, here's what we'll do: I get Rose dressed and you put some shoes on, Jack, then we go to look for a restaurant, okay? Afterwards, we all go to sleep. Rassilon knows _I_ need it..."

oOo

The Doctor leads Rose and Jack into a restaurant on Detipan that sells food edible for human beings. The two take in their surrounding with wide eyes: the high wooden ceiling decorated with pictures (hunting scenes again), the stone walls with delicate mosaic and the red carpeted floor.

"Booti-full," Rose sighs awestruck.

"It's "beee-autiful", Rose," the Doctor corrects without thinking about it.

"Beee-bootiful," Rose repeats, and the Doctor gives in, "Fine, have it your way..."

A waiter dressed in an elegant blue suit comes towards them. Stopping a few paces before actually being close, he greets them in a friendly tone and invites the Doctor to a table.

"Will you be needing a highchair for your daughter?" he asks in his too-high voice.

"Are you gay?" Jack wants to know and eyes the male curiously.

"Jack!" hisses the Doctor, even though he knows he shouldn't really be surprised. This is Jack Harkness after all. "I'm very sorry," he apologizes. The waiter nods curtly, then leans down towards Jack and whispers something in his ear that has the boy laughing loudly.

"You're funny!" he tells the waiter.

"Wanna know!" The girl in the Time Lord's arms demands. The waiter looks at her and says, "Sorry, princess, but you are a bit too young for that. Do you even know what "gay" means?" Rose frowns with concentration before she replies proudly, "kookaburra!" The two aliens stare at her profoundly confused while Jack is breaking into hysteric laughter.

"That's -that's right, Rosie! It's -it's -hahaha!"

"What," does the Doctor want to know, "has a bird to do with homosexuality?"

"Nothing!" Jack roars with laughter, attracting curious glances from the other customers. Rose is giggling along with him, even though the Doctor doubts she understands why. "It's- it's a _song_!"

"A song?" the waiter says taken aback.

"A children's song," Jack clarifies.

"A children's song about homosexuality?" the Doctor asks flabbergasted. Jack purses his lips.

"No. A children's song about a _bird_."

"A gay bird?" the waiter tries.

"Yes. A very happy bird." Finally, understanding dawns on two alien faces. Rose is still grinning, unaffected by the change of mood and begins humming said song. Jack helpfully adds the lyrics, " _kookaburra sits on an old gum tree-hee..._ "

oOo

After that embarrassing -at least for the Doctor, the children are utterly unaffected- conversation, he is happy to sit down on a table. The waiter has brought them a nice high chair for Rose and a menu for both the Doctor and Jack.

"Jack, what do you want to eat?" the Doctor wants to know from the boy intently staring at the leather-bound folder.

"What do they have?" he asks, looking up from his task to tilt his head.

"Well, read the menu, Jack! You are able to read on your own!" At his words, the boy blushes.

"Doc, I'm six years old. I can't read anything besides my name, yours and Rose's and the word "thanks"," he admits so lowly that the Time Lord almost misses it.

"You're not serious?"

"Yes I am." As the Doctor can see how much it took Jack to say it out loud, he doesn't tease him with it an instead reads out the menu to him.

"Doc, what's a "risotto with chicken breast and peas"?"

"A pile of rice with chicken meat and, well, peas."

"Want peas!" Both the Time Lord and Jack shift their gazes to Rose when she exclaims this.

"Oh. No, no want peas! Peas bah!" she adds immediately. "Wants... jiān ròupái!"

"What is " jiān ròupái", Doc?" Jack asks, "I've never heard that word before. The Doctor shrugs. 

"No idea? Rose, what's " jiān ròupái"?" Rose tilts her head.

"Jiān ròupái. Yum! Wants!"

"Yes, yes, I get that, but what do you want?"

"Obresok," Rose tries again. The Doctor shakes his head in confusion. Why is the girl speaking in tongues? Is it maybe a foreign language? But where would Rose have picked up another language?

"Schnitzel?" This last one, the Time Lord recognizes. It's German, though, and he has no clue how Rose would no _any_ German.

"A cutlet?" She nods emphatically. 

"Wis chips 'n ketchup," Rose adds.

"You know what? You can have a cutlet with chips if you tell me where you got the... Chinese, Russian and German words for cutlet from." The girl frowns, toying with the hem of her pink jumper she asks, "what tchaineese, rushan 'n germann? Tasty?"

"Doc, this starts to get creepy. Where does Rose know these words from? And how come she says them correctly?" Jack moved away from the blond girl.

"I know," the Time Lord agrees, scratching his neck. "I don't understand it either. Someone must be giving her the information. But she hasn't spoken to anyone but us, has she?"

"I dunno. Maybe she has," Jack returns slowly. Rose looks from one to another, then sighs. She probably thinks the two are really, really thick.

"Taddy says," she explains patiently. "Taddy says helps." Pulling on his earlobe, the Doctor contemplates this.

"You know what?" Jack tells the Doctor, "maybe this "Taddy" isn't an imaginary friend of hers after all. Perhaps there's something _in her head_. Y'know, like in the _X-Files_."

"The _X-Files_? How come _you_ know about the _X-Files_? And what would be in Rose's head? Nothing could reach her aboard the TARDIS!" Jack shrugs.

"Only an idea." Shaking his head, the Doctor tells Jack to keep his ideas to himself.

As if on cue, the waiter arrives at their table. The Time Lord smiles up at the male Detipani and orders a cutlet "wis chips 'n ketchup", risotto for Jack and marinated beef for himself. Writing it all down, the alien leaves the trio alone again. 

It takes all of five minutes for Jack to get bored. Complaining loudly, he makes Rose angry and the Doctor's headache return.

"I wanna go out 'n play! Please, can I go out?" he pleads. The Doctor declines by saying Jack would get lost. "But I won't go far away, promise!"

"No, Jack!" the Doctor repeats. The boy huffs angrily and slides off his chair.

"Fine!" Before the Doctor can react in any way, the Time Agent stomps off towards a bar at the far end of the restaurant. The Time Lord looks at Rose, points his finger at her nose and orders her to stay put while he is following Jack. The boy has by now reached the bar and tries to climb up a bar stool.

"Mr. Harkness, you are now coming back to our table with me!" the Doctor orders but is ignored. Jack takes hold of one of the chair legs and puts his foot onto a stabilizer bar. Watching Jack impatiently the Doctor starts tapping his foot.

"Jack." His tone holds a faint warning now, but the boy remains unimpressed. He stretches his hand up and reaches for the seat, pulling himself upwards. It makes the bar stool rock dangerously. Frowning, the Doctor repeats, "Jack!" but the boy still ignores him. When Jack's second leg leaves the floor, the chair suddenly tilts and for on horrible second, the boy is flying towards the floor. The Doctor moves hastily to prevent this but isn't fast enough. Jack lands hard on his backside, the chair coming down atop of him with a loud crash. For an instant, Jack's face shows only wide-eyed surprise, then he scrunches up his face and his brown eyes begin to water. Seconds later he is crying out loud and the Doctor’s hearts fill with pity. He leans down, carefully removes the stool from the boys belly and scoops Jack up in his arms. 

"Shush," he whispers in his ear, "you're alright, Jack." The boy buries his face in the Time Lord's leather jacket and sobs helplessly. Suddenly afraid the child is injured, the Doctor feels around for his sonic screwdriver in his pockets. Upon finding the device he quickly scans Jack's body but finding nothing damaged or broken. "You're fine, lad. Everything's okay, Jack," he murmurs softly, holding onto the small body. He can feel the child's heart beating a frantic rhythm and begins to feel guilty. There had been no reason for him not to stop the young Time Agent from climbing the stool -after all, he had known that it was possibly dangerous. But Captain Jack never got hurt, and that had been the Doctor's problem. He knows now that he shouldn't assume that anything true for the adult version of the man is also true for this innocent child (well, mostly innocent).

"It huuuuurts," Jack whines.

"Yes, but you'll be okay, believe me," the Doctor consoles him. It takes almost three minutes until Jack has calmed down and now has a hiccough. His eyes are red and puffy, wet streaks still on his reddened cheeks. The other Detipanis in the restaurant have observed the scene with quiet interest, but nobody comes close to the Time Lord with the boy in his arms.

"Come on, we'll get you to the loo and wash your face, okay?" Standing up, the Doctor carries the boy to the small room and takes a wet kerchief to clean Jack's face. The child endures it quietly. 

When they return to their table, Rose is gone.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor panics, Rose is hungry and Jack doesn't want to help. He wants food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the angst. It's all worth it, I promise. Sshhh

**6\. Where is Rose?**

The Doctor's hearts stop, skip a beat (actually, two) and then start hammering in his chest. _Where is Rose? Where could she've gone?_

"Rose?" he calls, hoping that the girl has just somehow managed to get out of the high chair and is happily hiding under the table or something. No reply. _Of course not_ , he thinks and carefully puts Jack down on his feet.

"Where's Rosie?" the boy wants to know and tugs on the Doctor's jeans insistently. 

"I- I don't know, Jack. But-" and at that word the Time Lord forces his voice to sound cheerful, "she can't have gone very far. She's just a toddler, after all!" Jack looks at him doubtfully.

"We're talking about Rose. She'll probably rip open the heart of the TARDIS, make me immortal and you change into a babbling stranger," he says. The Doctor snorts.

"Nobody can "rip open" the TARDIS, Jack. That's simply impossible. You could just as well say she'd graffiti the universe with some strange words from a fairy tale. Like, you know, _Little Red Riding Hood_ or _The big bad wolf_. No human could do that," the Doctor argues, trying to ignore the uneasiness that creeps into his body. He knows it's just because he is so worried about Rose. Where could she be? "We have to find her." Nodding, Jack lifts the tablecloth to peer under it.

"She's not under the table, Doc," he informs the Time Lord, then climbs onto a chair and smiles at him as if he has done everything humanly possible.

"Could've figured that one out on my own, me," the Doctor sighs. His hearts beat way too fast and he wonders what could have happened to the little girl. _Eaten? Drowned? Kidnapped?_ His brain seems to insist to bring up even more horrible scenarios by the second. The Doctor starts looking around in the restaurant, tugging Jack along despite his protests that he is hungry _and_ thirsty now.

"Rose?" he calls again, attracting curious glances from the other clientele of the restaurant. "Rose?" He's almost shouting now. And there is no sign of her still. He feels cold sweat running down his spine, his eyes straining to glimpse a little pink jumper, a strand of dark blond hair, a smile so familiar. Nothing. Where is Rose? Where?!

"ROSE!" he shouts at the top of his lungs, running around the room, disturbing eating Detipanis by hurrying past their tables and making their glasses wobble dangerously or lifting their tablecloths in his hectic quest to find the most important person in his life. _Rose. Rose. RoseRoseRoseRoseRoseRose..._ He is repeating her name in his mind like a prayer, even calling out with his telepathic abilities even though he knows the human girl isn't psychic. Jack is still complaining.

"Doc, I-" he starts again but is cut off by the Time Lord who gets more and more aggravated by the minute.

"Jack, we need to find Rose! So just SHUT UP!" he yells and Jack stares at him wide-eyed. 

"I'm sorry," the Time Agent mumbles and is silent ever since. The Doctor can't even appreciate this rare silence because his mind is screaming at him to search faster, to find the girl before anything happens to her on this strange planet, without him or anybody there to care for her, to look after her, to make sure she keeps smiling, to show her the stars, to hug her, to hold her, to- The Time Lord stops himself firmly from pondering any longer on these depressing thoughts. He _will_ find Rose, and if he has to turn the whole planet upside down and sideways and dig a giant hole to its heart. He just hopes he doesn't have to.

"Doc, listen-" Jack tries again, but the Doctor is barely paying attention to the boy holding his hand. _I wish he was his grown-up self,_ the Time Lord thinks while marching towards the restaurant's door, _then we could figure this out together. I wish Rose was herself, then she wouldn't've gotten into danger -wait, who am I kidding?_ He wants Rose and Jack to be there, with him, like they should be. Jack, the ever-flirty, always smiling Captain of the Innuendo Squat, and Rose, his trusted companion, the healer of his hearts. He knows he needs them. But right now, _they_ need _him_ and he is about to fail abysmally. He had been a father once, but that had been long ago, in a different body, with a mind working differently from his. He has all the memories, sort of, but he also remembers that he had never really cared too much. Now, for Rose and Jack, he cares. He is a horrible father, had been, will be, is. And now the little girl who has given him his joy, his life back, is gone. And he fails. It is as inevitable as the sun setting in the west.

"ROSE!" The Doctor's cry is filled with all the anguish, the fear and worry he feels. Jack is on the edge of bursting into tears again. The Time Lord almost breaks down. But he can't. Pushing the door of the restaurant open, he calls her name yet again. No answer. 

When somebody tips on his shoulder, he spins around fast enough to be a little dizzy. It is the waiter, and he smiles apologetically at him.

"I'm really very sorry to have caused such distress," he says, eyes cast down. The Doctor shakes his head and replies, "'s not your fault. I should have-"

"No, sir, you see, I know where your daughter is." Hope flares in the Time Lord's chest.

"Where?" he asks, feeling light-headed. _Please let it not be a sick joke!_ he prays silently. The waiter nervously scratches his neck.

"She was hungry, or so she said, and one of the waitresses took her to the kitchen. I just forgot that humans aren't telepathic, that your calling out to her wouldn't reach the girl. I'm sorry," he admits. The Doctor runs faster than he has ever run in his -admittedly long- life. He bursts into the kitchen, startling the poor Detipani cook and her aides and almost everybody else in the restaurant. He doesn't have eyes for the modern equipment or the chrome-colored pots and pans. He ignores the big triangle hat on the chef's head that has two holes for her horns. Neither does the Time Lord acknowledge the pictures on the shiny white walls -still lifes, not hunting scenes. Because on a work disc, holding a big wooden spoon and stirring some sort of dish is sitting his Rose. 

"Docta!" she exclaims happily as he swoops her up into his arms, holding her tight and inhaling her scent. "Soup?" The Time Lord finds he can't answer her around the great lump in his throat. Rose is safe. Safe and sound and, most importantly, wrapped in his arms. He never ever wants to let her go, smell her soft, baby-like, milky smell and enjoy his life. Or hers. Preferably both. He is so relieved that he has to blink rapidly in order to keep the tears at bay. Rose tilts her head so the Doctor's face is buried in her hair.

"Docta okay?" she asks a little worried. He nods vigorously, stroking her back, feeling her solidity, the reality of her little body pressed against his own. The Doctor never thought he could feel so relieved in his life. She was safe. Safe. Safe. He has to repeat the word in his head to be able to actually believe it. And she has only stirred soup! _How pathetic!_ he thinks to himself, _here I am, thinking Rassilon knows what happened to Rose, and she was making soup!_

"I'm fine," he finally chokes out, sounding hoarse and his voice is _still_ thick with unshed tears. It's a bit undignified, really, but he can't -and, if he is honest with himself (which he isn't) he doesn't want to stop.

"Can we please eat now? Or are you still panicking?" Jack asks, sounding a little miffed. The Doctor takes his time to look down to the boy standing next to his left leg. Jack's hair is slightly ruffled, his coat has slid down his arms and dangles loosely at his wrists, Jack's eyes glint with a hint of amusement. 

"I am not panicking, young man!" the Doctor protests. Jack only rolls his eyes.

"Rose! Oh Rose, don't leave me!" he cries in a mocking northern accent.

"That is _not_ how I sound, Jack!" is the only answer the boy gets from a Time Lord still too relieved that his human girl, his Rose, is safe.

oOo

The Doctor carefully puts Rose back in her high chair, ruffling her hair affectionately and even smiling a little. The girl squeals in delight at this, her not-brother just rolls his eyes for the umpteenth time and thinks to himself that the last of the Time Lords has been turned into a doting mother hen. He would have preferred Superman. Or, if he couldn't have that, possibly an Ood. They weren't fussing over their children, after all.

"Doc, I'm _hungry_!" Jack complains and the Doctor turns around to look at him.

"Now, Jack, you'll have to wait like everybody else in this place. The chef certainly won't like to be rushed! Haste makes waste, y'know." Seemingly pleased with his explanation, he turns back to just look at Rose. He can't explain just why he has to assure himself that she is still there constantly. Maybe he fears she'll disappear the moment he does as much as blink. But she won't.

"No wowwy," she tells him and tilts her head a little. "Wowwy makes head ache." The Time Lord's smile grows a little more and is now almost splitting his face.

"That's right!" he says.

"Please stop!" groans Jack and shakes his head. "Nobody'd believe you're not even our true Daddy!" He turns to face the annoyed kid. He studies his face for a moment, then asks, a little cheekily, "Jack, are you jealous?" At his words, the boy hides his face, but the Doctor can still make out the faint blush coloring his smooth cheeks.

"You _are_ jealous! Why, Captain Jack? Aren't you too old for that yet?" the Doctor teases.

"I am not jealous! Not of a baby girl who can't even look after herself properly and scares the living daylights out of me by _cooking soup_!" The Time Lord realizes that Jack has been just as worried as he has been. So he carefully lifts Jack from his seat and hauls him up and into his arms. Patting his head, he whispers in his ear, "I was scared, too, Jack. But she's fine, and so are you." _Strange_ , he thinks, _how it is easier to admit these kind of things to a young child who most likely won't understand them completely..._

Fortunately, he is saved from Jack's response -which would have included the worst swear word six-year-old Jack knows ("stupid Dalek-head")- by the waiter placing their orders on the table. Before he leaves, he makes another excuse for not realizing that Rose was human and therefore couldn't have - and is cut off by the Doctor again. He places a tasty looking, still steaming risotto in front of Jack that thankfully quiets him down. The Doctor hands him this planet's equivalent of a spoon (it looks more like a small bowl with less handle) and the boy starts eating. Rose eyes her cutlet suspiciously.

"Yummy?" she wants to know and pokes at the meat with her finger. Scratching his neck, the Doctor tells her that of course cutlets are "yummy" and hands her a spoon, too. Rose curiously takes it in her tiny hand, examining it from all sides and then promptly puts it in her mouth. Frowning, she complains, "Not yummy!"

"You have to put meat on it, little princess," the Doctor informs her. "Oh, and you might want to use this," he adds and hands her a blunt knife, too. He's not stupid, after all. Rose tries to put the knife in her mouth too, but doesn't take the spoon out first. The Doctor fights hard not to grin like a loony at the frustration on her little face, brows furrowed in concentration. His own meal lies forgotten on its plate in front of him.

"Here, lemme help you." Carefully, the Doctor takes the knife and cuts her cutlet. He focuses on this task and that's why he doesn't notice that Rose is stuffing chips in her mouth now. When he looks up again, her cheeks are a little bulged from potato-mush and she is frustrated again.

"Wff mfff Dwwwwf," comes out of her mouth, along with a half-chewed, hot, wet potato chip. 

"Ew, Rosie! Chew first, then talk!" Jack complains, disgust evident in the look of his brown eyes. The Doctor just sighs and closes Rose's mouth by covering her lips with his hand. They feel like hot, velvety plush under his rough fingertips. And like mashed potatoes.

"Jack is right. Make sure to swallow before you say anything, okay, princess?" he reprimands her. Nodding, Rose chews soundly and then swallows the big piece of chip still in her mouth.

"Docta, naif yummy?"

"Just why would you want to eat a... knife?" he tries. Yes, that sounds right. _I seem to finally get the hang of this stupid baby-talk-thing_ , he thinks and is pretty proud of it, too. Rose shrugs.

"Docta give naif," she explains.

"To cut your meat with, Rosie," Jack sighs and puts his spoon away. "That was delicious." Contentedly, he rubs his belly and leans back in his chair, looking very much like his adult self might after a good shag. And wasn't that a disturbing thought?

The Time Lord notices that while Jack has finished his food and Rose is still using her fingers to stuff more chips in her mouth than should be possible, his own meal had probably gone cold. Sighing, he finishes cutting Rose's cutlet to smaller pieces and then finally, finally begins to eat himself. Indeed the meat was rather lukewarm and the pasta cold, but it really doesn't matter. He wolfs it down; the adrenaline of his search for Rose that is now leaving his system giving over to feeling like starving. And this way the lukewarm meat and the cold pasta taste like the best thing he's ever had.

When he is done he risks a glance at Rose - and freezes. She is covered in a mixture of chips, pieces of meat and ketchup and there is some sort of other sauce smeared all over her cheeks. She looks rather like the Nestene Consciousness -with a little ketchup. Jack is grinning a thousand megawatt grin at the expression on the Tine Lord's face, and Rose issues a little burp.

"Wummy," she tells the Doctor and puts her dirty hands on her jumper. _I really hope I have enough detergent to get that out of her jumper..._ , he thinks, eyeing the stains. Rose smiles.

"Wevvy yummy."

oOo

The Doctor, Rose and Jack go back to the TARDIS after he has paid and given the waiter more beer money than he'd ever has seen. Sending Rose to the loo to wash her hands had not been a very good idea, because now Rose was not only covered in ketchup but her jumper was wet too. Of course she hasn't cleaned her hands. In contrary, she seems to have put soap on it and then just smeared that on her jumper, too. He wishes he had sent a female Detipani to look after her, but the Doctor had been pretty sure that the girl should at least be able to wash her hands without causing a minor catastrophe. Obviously he had been wrong.

He helps Jack first, showing him the wardrobe room to go find his pyjamas and reminds him to wash and brush his teeth before going to bed. Yawning, Jack agrees to everything, puts on jimjams with Bob the Builder on them after washing his face and feet and slides under the cover of his bed without brushing his teeth. Well, two out of three is better than nothing, right?

Then the Doctor returns to the console room because the TARDIS is complaining loudly in his head. He sees why upon entering. Rose has managed to leave stains not only on the floor, but the center column and the jumper seat, too. The TARDIS is not amused. Her usually soft hum sounds almost like a growl that suggest he better get Rose in one of her bathrooms, get her clean and then take mop and bucket and make sure she is shiny afterwards. Currently the girl frowns at the ceiling.

"No. Rose no bad!" she snaps. "No-o! Chips yummy, Taddy too!" _Oh Rassilon!_ the Doctor thinks, understanding dawning. _She wants the TARDIS to have from her chips... My ship is going to land us on a planet with creatures that eat toddlers for breakfast._

"Rose," he says softly, "the TARDIS doesn't like chips. No, really, she doesn't!" he repeats when he sees her unbelieving expression.

"All likes chips!" Rose argues.

"But the TARDIS isn't human, Rose, she's a time ship. She likes..." _Just what does she like?_ the Time Lord wonders. _It's not like she could eat anything..._ "...Rift energy, I s'ppose."

"Wift enjee?"

"Er, yes. You know what? Never mind. She just dislikes chips, and she doesn't want to have them all over her center column. You wouldn't want to be covered in mud either, would you?" he asks a little desperate. The girl shakes her head. "See? Now, let's get you cleaned..." He takes Rose's sticky hand and leads her to the nearest bathroom.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack surprises everyone, Rose is acting and the Doctor has a chat with the TARDIS.
> 
> Sorry this is rather short :)

**Breakfast at the TARDIS**

The Doctor wakes up. It is an all together pleasant feeling, because nobody is misusing his belly as a trampoline, there are no yells/sobs/arguing sounds and his time ship hums lowly. Sitting up he wonders how long it'll take for his two little terrors to wake up and raise hell. Again. He slips out under the duvet and trots over to the en suite, washes and dresses. It's still silent. Wondering how long the children are going to sleep, he opens his bedroom door to check on them. And finds Jack standing there, grinning a thousand megawatt grin at him. The boy is still in his jimjams, his hair is ruffled. He looks completely innocent but ruins the effect thoroughly by saying, "Guess what, Doc! I found out what you think about at night, 'n I'm gonna make it all come true!"

Horrified the Time Lord stares at him. There is absolutely _no way_ the little boy can know... is there? And what does he mean by "make it all come true"?

"What _do_ I think about at night?" he queries. Hoping Jack doesn't know what he actually thinks about. But how could he? _Well, he is the master of innuendo..._ , a treacherous voice whispers in his mind, _you really think he could've missed the way you look at Rose?_ Jack is still grinning up at him and has yet to answer. _But, you know_ , says a more rational voice, _he is six years old. He probably assumes you think about... say, cookies._

"You," says Jack and pokes his knee, "you think 'bout breakfast!" The Doctor is so relieved he actually laughs.

"You caught me!" he smiles, "there's nothing else on my mind but breakfast when I go to sleep!" Jack raises one eyebrow and crosses his arms.

"How stupid d'you think I am, Doctor? I know there's plenty of other stuff on your mind, too. You're all grown up, so you think about planets you wanna save, food we need or what Rose should wear," he explains.

"Well, yeah, that too. But mostly it's breakfast," the Doctor gives in. Jack nods and stretches so he can reach the Doctor's shoulder. His arms aren't quite long enough so he settles for patting him on his arm.

"I know you've gotta hell of a job with me and Rosie, so... C'mon!" He grabs the Doctor's jacket and pulls the Time Lord along. He is not sure what to expect when Jack guides him towards the control room, but it is certainly not what he gets to see: Someone -well, Jack- has put Rose into a tiny little black dress with a white apron and put a bonnet on her head so she looks like a miniature version of a waitress. Rose holds a little dinner tray in her hands that has a glass full of orange juice on it. The Doctor looks down at Rose when she declares, "Moussieur, your dink!" and stretches to hand him the tray.

"Uhm, thanks," the Doctor replies, taking the glass from her and takes a sip. The girl smiles proudly, and so does Jack.

"Have you taught her to say "Monsieur", or was that the TARDIS?" the Time Lord wants to know. Jack seems to grow an inch or two with pride when he answers, "That was all me!" 

"Well done!" the Doctor praises.

"Just you wait!" Jack answers. "Rosie?" The girl puts the tray down and holds out her hand.

"Follow me, Moussieur. I shell show you table." The Doctor is led to the kitchen.

He stops dead in the entrance. The two children must have stayed awake the whole night to accomplish this! There are pictures hanging low on the walls; he can see TARDISes in various colours, hearts and sometimes three spidery figures holding hands, also in every colour of the rainbow. The wooden table in the middle of the room is set, too. There is a small basket with bread in it, three steaming cups -tea? Does Jack know how to make tea in the TARDIS?- and plates with cutlery.

"Rosie found a red tablecloth, but I couldn't reach it," Jack tells him apologetically, "so there's no tablecloth now." The Doctor feels all warm inside. Rose and Jack did this for him, and he can see how much effort they put into preparing the breakfast. He doesn't know what to say.

"Docta? Not like?" asks Rose, sounding insecure.

"Yeah, you okay? Did we break something?" Jack is worried, too. Both of them look up at him expectantly, big puppy eyes asking whether they did something wrong. The Time Lord realizes that while they must know he is pleased Jack and Rose will need to hear it, too.

"Thank you. That's wonderful!" he smiles, lifts Rose up in his arms and kisses her forehead, then bends down to hug Jack. 

"Stop it!" Jack complains, "we're not done yet!" 

"What, there is more than this wonderful breakfast?" he asks, surprised.

"Well, yeah." Jack shifts his weight and looks at Rose. The girl gives a small nod and walks towards the chair. She pulls one of the chairs out which looks kind of funny since the girl can't quite reach the top end of its back. The Doctor bites back his laugh, though, because he can see she has to make an effort.

"Sit down, Moussieur," Rose pants and the Doctor makes his way to the chair and sits down. On his plate there is a folded white paper.

"May I have a look at it?" he asks curiously. The two kids have moved to stand left and right from his chair and nod vigorously. So the Time Lord unfolds the piece of paper.

There are three figures on it. The one in the middle is tallest with deep purple outlines. It has giant ears (about the size of an elephant's) and its grin literally is too big for its face. The figure is wearing something black. The Doctor assumes it's supposed to be him.

"Are my ears really _that_ big?" he murmurs to himself. The person next to the Doctor is pink, so it is probably Rose. She has blonde hair that looks like a straw hat (or something similar) and a little triangular skirt. On the Time Lord's other side is a boy in dark blue, Jack. He is wearing a white uniform and a strange hat-like thingy on his head. For a moment the Doctor wonders what it is supposed to be, then it dawns on him. It is a chef's hat. The three figures -Jack, the Doctor and Rose- are standing on a bright green lawn, the sky above is a light blue line. Giant letters just above the Doctor's head read

_We love you Dotor!_

All of a sudden the Time Lord has a hard time swallowing around the lump in his throat. These two children, he realizes, love him despite the fact he is clearly not suited to care for them. Well, the writing on the picture hints it, anyways. He feels his hearts flutter happily in his chest. It is a feeling he has not yet experienced and thinks it is wonderful.

"Thanks, both of you, for this wonderful picture!" he murmurs, hugging them. Rose squeals excitedly and Jack grins widely, too.

"Thought you'd like it!" he says and blushes a little. "Rosie drew us, and I wrote the letters. The TARDIS showed me the right ones, though." 

"Then thank you, too, old girl," the Doctor adds and the TARDIS purrs appreciatively.

"We loves you," Rose smiles.

"Yeah," agrees Jack, "we really do. So, thank _you_."

oOo

They eat mostly in silence. The Doctor helps Rose with her bread and Jack with the tea (it is only hot water, because Jack couldn't reach the tea bags). Even though this is hardly the first time the Time Lord has eaten bread he thinks it has never before tasted so delicious. Jack and Rose smile and tease each other good-naturedly. They make it through the breakfast without an incident, and the Doctor has a wonderful time just watching the two kids. He loves them. Both of them. The feeling is rather powerful, it fills his whole being with determination to prove himself worthy of their love for him. He knows then and there that he'd do anything for them.

After the breakfast the children tell him they're going to the library because Jack wants to watch "Let's be alien!" and Rose has an unfinished picture book. So the Time Lord stays behind to clean up. While rinsing the dishes in the sink, he softly asks the TARDIS, "Do you really think I'm good enough for them? I can see they trust me, but..."

_Don't be silly, Doctor. You took care of me well enough, and you always protected Rose, too. Of course you're "good enough" for them,_ she answers.

"If you say so..." 

_Yes, I do. But shouldn't you be thinking about how to grow them up again, so to say?_ Scratching his neck, the Doctor has to admit that that should be higher on his list right now.

"Yes, probably should. Do you have any idea what has caused it, by the way?"

_No, I'm sorry. Something rammed me, I felt the explosion. But that's about it._ the TARDIS explains. Her hum sounds apologetic.

"Think I can backtrack whatever it was?"

_Possibly. It left a nice burn mark on my exterior shell. I'd be very much obliged if you could clean that the next time we land, too. I hate burn marks._ Smiling, the Doctor promises to take care of the marks, too, then begins to move around the console to push switches and pull levers. When he finally stops his erratic dance he peers at a monitor.

"Huh," he grumbles. "Seems like we can't figure out whether whatever hit us caused the rejuvenation of Jack and Rose or not. Should've done that earlier..." 

"Doc, what are you doing?" The Doctor almost jumps at the sound of Jack's voice.

"Jack! Is your show already over?" The boy nods and trots over to catch a glimpse of the readings on the monitor.

"What's all those wavy lines?"

"That's what caused the explosion. Do you remember it? I think I may be able to find out where it came from." Jack frowns.

"Explosion? You talkin' about the crash?"

"Yeah, yeah, the crash..." the Time Lord answers distracted, his focus on the readings once again.

"The one that hurt so much?"

"Yup."

"The one where I banged my head on the console and ended up in the living room?"

"Yes, Jack, that one. So please be quiet now, I have to -ah-HA!" Triumphantly the Doctor hits another button. "So, let's see. Where do we go? Leadworth? Where on earth is _that_?!"


	8. Playground heroes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack becomes a star, the Doctor talks to an aunt and Rose wins a fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And sorry, I changed the timelines a little bit. Let's just pretend Amelia was about five years old when she first met the Doctor, okay?

**Playground heroes**

The trees bloom and wind quietly plays its melody with newly-grown leaves. Mothers and fathers walk hand in hand with their children along the gravel walk, talking amongst themselves or smiling fondly at their offsprings. It's a lovely day all in all. Then the wind freshens and old engines whoosh. In between two ancient oak trees a blue box materializes out of thin air, engines spluttering to a more or less soft halt. A man with a battered leather jacket gingerly opens the door and looks up into the sky.

"Earth," he says, "how come that everything fishy I come across starts on this little scrap of a planet?" Next to his knees, a little blonde girl steals a glimpse at the -from her perspective- giant tree trunks.

"Tree big!" exclaims Rose and pushes past the Doctor's legs. "Look, Docta! Big tree!"

"Wonderful," comes an annoyed voice from behind the Doctor. "She'll go on about trees the whole day if you don't distract her!"

"How am I supposed to distract her? I'm not here to have fun, but reverse the effect the explosion had on you two." The Doctor frowns. "Just where can I go with two children _and_ gather useful information?" he wonders aloud.

"You are looking for a place to go with your children, Mister?" The Doctor practically leaps out of the TARDIS to stare at an old little woman smiling friendly up at him. His hearts beat a thousand miles a minute. She wears a chequered blouse and a plain long skirt, pulling a wheeled case behind her. Her white hair reminds him of the mane of the Draxx.

"Um. Um, yes," is all he can say and grins sheepishly. The old lady nods and asks, "Why don't you take them to the playground at the park? It's just over there, follow the path to its end, can't miss it." She looks him up and down with her piercing green eyes and the Time Lord feels like he is being assessed. "Your kids can have fun and you could talk to the mothers. Mrs. Pond is there right now, I just come from talking to her. Her niece is about the age of your lovely boy." And, to Jack's horror, the old lady leans down and pinches his cheek. Rose bursts into laughter.

oOo

Never in his life has the Doctor been so glad to sit down. Rose has spent the whole walk teasing Jack about the old lady and Jack has gotten increasingly snappish to the point where he refused to talk to anyone. It had been rather annoying.

Now he takes a seat next to a young woman with short black hair and greyish-blue eyes and sighs contentedly. She looks at him with a knowing smile.

"Children can be exhausting, can't they?" she asks and the Doctor nods enthusiastically. "Which ones are yours?" The Doctor scans the playground for Rose and Jack. The two of them have run off before he could say as much as "Bugger" and disappeared. He spies Jack climbing up the ladder to a green slide and Rose sitting in the sandpit baking some sort of unshaped cake.

"Rose is baking a cake," he tells the woman and points towards the girl, "and Jack is sliding down the slide." She follows his gaze and nods.

"They're lovely," she tells him. "Oh, my name is Sharon Pond, by the way. And you are...?" The Doctor shakes the offered hand.

"I'm... the Doctor."

"Huh, I haven't seen you around. When have you moved in?" Hastily, the Doctor clarifies that he and his kids are just on holidays in Leadworth, which Mrs. Pond seems to find very amusing indeed.

"My niece, Amelia, is over there fighting her best friends Rory and Melody with sticks. I really wish she wouldn't do that... But, that's just how children are. They never do what you expect them to. At least she's not making poor Rory dress up as her imaginary friend again," murmurs Sharon and the Doctor makes out a ginger girl waving a rather short stick in the general direction of a shorter boy with ash blond hair, while a dark-skinned girl makes strange whirring sounds in the back of her throat.

"You should be glad she has such a vivid imagination," the Doctor tells Sharon, "it's a sign of a great mind. What d'you think they told Picasso when he was young?" Sharon shakes her head.

"Sure, if you say so. But for a while we were all very worried. Amelia wasn't talking about anything else but her friend, the "raggedy Doctor". Thank god she's over it now..." The Doctor tilts his head.

"Raggedy Doctor"?" he asks, "That's a rather... interesting name for an imaginary friend." Then, remembering what Jack has told him, he adds, "Though not as bad as Ianto, I'd say."

"Ianto?" repeats Sharon and then nods wisely. "I think you're right." They both fall into silence and observe the playground.

Jack is surrounded by boys and girls of various ages, grinning like a loony and telling them all bits and pieces of his fabulous adventures.

"And then there was the one time I saved my sister from falling down a zeppelin!" The kids roar with laughter. 

"How'd she get there?" The Doctor recognizes Amelia Pond looking up at Captain Jack.

"Dunno, but she was wearing a tee with the Union Jack on it, in the middle of the Blitz!" Amelia tilts her head.

"What's the Blitz?" she wants to know. Next to her, the dark-skinned Melody nudges her and whispers, "It's some sort of battle over in London, and it was _ages_ ago!"

"Oh, really? Then how come you were there?" Amelia queries with her hands on her waist, shooting an inquisitive look at Jack. The boy at least has the decency to blush and fiddle nervously with his coat.

"Weeeell, my Dad is a time travelling alien," he explains. Amelia glares.

"That can't be true. I've seen your Dad, and he looks _nothing_ like a time traveler. Time travelers have longer, somewhat ridiculous hair and they wear bow ties."

"But-" Jack begins but is interrupted again by young Miss Pond. The Doctor thinks she is absolutely adorable in the way her eyes seem to throw lightning bolts at the Time Agent.

"No-o! He doesn't look for the crack in my wall, or cares for the creepy pepper pots." Thus spoken she tilts her head. "But it's a good story. So go on, why was she wearing a tee in the middle of the Blitz?" Jack nods slowly.

"I really don't know. But she was hanging down this rope, and I saw her through my spyglass, went over to my spaceship -I parked it next to Big Ben, y'know- and got her down there. Then we both went looking for Dad, 'cause there were some seriously freakin' creepy people with gas masks running about asking for their Mummys," Jack finishes his tale. The Doctor knows he should probably worry, but seeing as the boy is just that -a boy, nobody would pay him any more attention than strictly necessary. Plus, who would believe such a story? 

The kids are glued to Jack's lips, and the boy soaks the attention up like a sponge hot water, grinning and charming all the while. The Doctor can see how Jack came to be his flirty grown-up self. It's rather cute, actually.

"He's a nice boy. A bit too much imagination, probably, but friendly and charming, obviously," comments Sharon. The Doctor agrees whole-heartedly. Then he filters something out of little Amelia's words and asks with a feeling of dread, "What did Amelia mean by the crack in her wall? And scary pepper pots?" Sharon sighs deeply and buries her face in her hands.

"Amy has a crack in her wall that freaks her out. She insists that her imaginary friend came to have a look at it...And the pepper pots? You see, children just make things up. Last Wednesday she came home with Mels and Rory, spooked and trembling but refused to talk about what they might have seen. Ever since she's been scared of our pepper pot and, strangely, ran screaming when our neighbors were talking about exterminating the rats in their compost heap." Sighing again, Sharon looks up warily at the Doctor. The Time Lord rubs his earlobe.

"That's... very uncommon indeed," he allows, not sure what to think of it. With Rose he has learned that children are sometimes scared of completely innocent things -like bubble bath- so he ignores the bit about the crack in Amelia's room. But the pepper pots? And exterminating? That sounds suspiciously like... But that should be impossible; the Time War saw that they were... He needed to make sure. "Mind if I have a word with her? I _am_ a doctor after all. Maybe I can help?" he suggests.

"We went to various psychiatrists with her. She bit them." Sharon sound so very beaten that the Doctor pats her on the shoulder.

"We won't know if I don't try. And if she bites me, too, well, it can't be worse than cleaning the whole living room from chip mush." Sharon gives him a sad little smile but agrees to let the Doctor talk to Amelia, so he makes his way over to the freckle of grass where a whole bunch of kids have gathered around Jack and look at him with rapt attention. Amelia is one of them, sitting next to Melody-her-friend; occasionally she mutters something in her ear. He tips on her shoulder. Whipping her head around she looks up at him through narrowed eyes.

"I hope it's important. Jack is just telling us about the one time where he, Rose and another guy named cheese cake meet a lady in Cardiff who can take her skin off and become an alien!" Considering this, the Time Lord nods.

"It is rather important, Amelia. I'd like to talk to you about pepper pots." Her heart-shaped face immediately closes and her expression is guarded.

"I dislike pepper pots," she says tightly, turning around to pay attention at Jack's story again. Her little red jacket flaps around her back like broken angel's wings. 

"Seriously, Amelia. I am scared of pepper pots, too. They're dangerous, especially when they are in fact alive and shout "Exterminate"," he whispers into the little girl's ear. Amelia looks at him in astonishment.

"You've met them, too?" she whispers back. The Doctor nods and wonders where the poor little duckling could have possibly met a Dalek.

"You are right to be afraid of them, Amelia. They're really, really dangerous." She shivers a little. "Can you tell me where you met them?" Slowly, Amelia rises to her feet and nods.

"Mels, I'll come back later," she tells her friend and then leads the Doctor over to a little wooden house where she slumps down on the ground, completely ruining her purple skirt. "So, where have you met them?"

"A long, long time ago. And I really hope this is all some strange coincidence and that there are some really good imposters." Amelia thinks about this.

"So you say they're real? What are they?" she wants to know.

"If you're right, they're Daleks. Aliens." By Rassilon he hopes he is wrong. Daleks on earth? It would be his worst nightmare coming true. "Can you tell me more?" Amelia nods again.

"Mels, Rory'n I were out in the forest in the evenin' when we heard some sort of crash. We went looking but there wasn't a thing, just... it was weird, but... there was some sort of... house there. I swear it wasn't there the other day, but all the grown-ups say it has been there since forever." Amelia shakes her head. "It has been there forever since last Tuesday," she finally mutters. "I'm going mad, aren't I?"

"I really don't think so, Amelia. Care to tell me where this house is? I might go and investigate and, if I can, get rid of your alien pepper pots, okay? Where exactly where the pepper pots anyway?" 

"The next day, Wednesday, Rory, Mels and me went to investigate. You know, it _was_ pretty weird, a house appearing out of nowhere. We knocked at the door and this... thing... opened. It looked like a pepper pot, almost exactly like a pepper pot, just with one steely eye on a stick and a plumber instead of a hand. And it... I swear it looked at us. And then it said, "These young ones shall be exterminated", and we ran. They didn't follow us or anything, but... it was so scary," Amelia whispers. 

"I'm glad," the Doctor sighs, "But don't you worry, Amelia Pond. I'll sort this mess out."

oOo

"Doctor! Doctor, isn't that your daughter?" The call takes the brooding Time Lord completely by surprise. After Amelia has told him of the possibly-dangerous-pepper-pot-Daleks he has sat down and been thinking ever since. The girl has of course gone back to listen to Jack's stories again, joined Mels and seems rather content right now. Should it be that the Time Lord's sacrifice in the War had been for naught? Anyway, he hasn't been paying attention to Jack _or_ Rose, so his head snaps up and around from the little wooden house to Mrs. Sharon Pond. Her voice sounds worried so the Doctor quickly scans the playground and then sees what causes the woman's distress:

Rose is standing in the sandpit, hands on her hips, in front of a crying boy with dirt on his knees -Rory, the Doctor recognizes. In front of her there are three considerably older boys, one of which is holding a green, frog-shaped sand mould and a shovel and waves it about above Rose's head.

"Give back!" she shouts with all the authority of an angry three-year-old. "Not yours!"

"And what d'yo do if I don't? Kick my shin?" the boy holding Rory's stuff asks haughtily. Rose narrows her eyes and the Doctor hurriedly gets up and wallks towards them.

"No, I won't," Rose says smiling viciously. The Doctor stops, curious. The boy actually takes a step back at the sight of the little toddler in front of him.

"Ha!" exclaims the boy to his right, a brunette midget wearing black jeans and a Scooby-Do-shirt. "Ben's gonna beat the crap outta you baby!" Rose stands a little straighter.

"No," she says simply and then turns around to pat Rory on the shoulder. "I gets back, no wowwy. No cry!" The boy blinks up at her uncertainly. She faces the boys again.

"Now," says Rose and tilts her head, "you like foot?" The boys burst into laughter. 

"You can't even _talk_ properly, you baby!" At this point the Doctor is fuming with rage and has started walking again. But to his great surprise Rose takes a step forward and stomps on Ben's foot. Hard. 

The boy issues a surprised yelp of pain and drops the shovel and sand mould. Rose darts forward with more speed than the Doctor has thought possible from a three-year-old and grabs the toys, then pulls at Rory's hand.

"RUN!" Rory jumps to his feet and takes hold of Rose's hand at her command. The two race towards Jack and the other kids.

"Shack!" Rose calls, "Help!" The boy immediately abandons his audience and turns all his attention towards Rose and Rory stumbling towards them. The three boys follow close behind.

"Rory!" cries Amelia and jumps to her feet as well, moving to the two kids. Panting, Rose flings herself into Jack's arms.

"They take toys!" Rose tells him angrily and points toward Ben and his minions. Jack scowls.

"So," he says and moves to stand in front of Rose, "you're the cowards who threaten my sister?" Ben squares his shoulders.

"She's stomped on my foot." Jack raises an eyebrow.

"So? She's just a baby, can't have hurt," he returns. Rose pokes her tongue at Ben from behind Jack.

"She's ruined all our fun!" the brunette boy shouts. Jack ramins unimpressed.

"She's helped Rory. And now _you_ guys are trying to hurt _a girl_. You _cowards_." Jack sounds disgusted and the last of the three boys blushes. 

"Sorry," he mumbles under his breath, and Jack nods satisfied. 

"What 'bout you?" Ben sneers.

"You can't protect the little monster, can you?" he asks, bends down and picks up a stone. 

This is the signal for the Doctor to move in. He calmly steps behind Ben and takes the stone from his hand.

"You were _not_ going to throw it, were you?" he asks in a low voice dripping with venom. Shocked, Ben turns around and looks up- and up- and up at a seriously pissed off Time Lord.

"Uh," he says and blinks.

"And you were also _not_ intending to hurt Rose _or_ Rory. In fact, you were only trying to help them bake a nice little cake of sand, _weren't you_?" Ben gulps. The Doctor is pretty angry at this young child but wonders distantly if maybe if he is overdoing it a bit. But it is against everything the Time Lord believes in that the strong ones should threaten weaker beings. So he makes sure that it doesn't happen.

"You are now going home, Ben. And if I _ever_ see you threatening little girls again, I _will_ go and find the monster from your worst nightmare and bring it to life like Dr. Frankenstein." The threat is just a little less effective when he has to explain who Frankenstein is to a bunch of wide-eyed kids, including Ben. Who then runs away as fast as he can with his friends following on his heels.

"You're pretty cool, Mister," says Amelia and looks at the Time Lord with awe.

**Author's Note:**

> Soo, did you like it? I'm having way too much fun with this fic, so you're gonna see more of it soon. Probably ;p By the way, I love comments. Did I tell you? They absolutely make my day!


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